Commodore 64 arp sound. (How would one recreate that sound?)

[Chlysm]

http://youtu.be/njTxV8blffc?t=1m9s

I've been wondering how to recreate this effect and I wondering if and how anyone has done it successfully in a sequencer.

Listening closely, they sound like chords, but as fast as they are I can't tell if they're arpeggiated or just repeated really fast. And would they be using 16th note triplets or just 32nd notes?

[lazygecko]

I don't think precise tempos were that important. Just doing it really fast was enough. The key to the sound is playing those arps as a legato to avoid retriggering the attack, and perhaps add a teeny teeny bit of portamento sliding so as to smooth out the transitions.

[timaeus222]

It's basically an arp patch playing octave intervals. I usually end up using 32nd notes. IIRC, it might be a pulse wave?

[Garrett Williamson]

IIRC, it might be a pulse wave?

That's what I'm thinking.

Boy, that sound is really shrilly hahahaha. Just remember if you recreate that sound, try to keep it from being so shrilly. You don't wanna annoy people. It's totally avoidable, though. EQ and turning the nobs on the synth correctly will keep that problem from happening.

Just don't let there be too much high, high-mid, and maybe mid frequency piercing through the track. That's where it mainly needs to be kept under control.

[timaeus222]

Audio Example

So yeah, I checked, and here's a synth pic. The patch is just so that you can play chords and it arpeggiates them. It's a 1/64 division at 130 BPM.

You might be able to imitate that through just fast sequencing.

Audio Example

Edited August 24, 2014 by timaeus222

[Chlysm]

It's basically an arp patch playing octave intervals. I usually end up using 32nd notes. IIRC, it might be a pulse wave?

So are you saying that it doesn't do chords? Just single notes and octaves?

[timaeus222]

So are you saying that it doesn't do chords? Just single notes and octaves?

It can do chords, but if you just play single notes, then generally it plays octaves to sound like that. When you play chords, if you arpeggiate/roll the notes very quickly, it's pretty similar.

Edited August 24, 2014 by timaeus222